37. "partnership between the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation and the United Steel Workers"

Published on Sunday, March 24, 2013 by Common Dreams
Labor Unions in the New Economy
by Atlee McFellin

... Perhaps the most innovative and inspiring development by unions in 21st century U.S. is the partnership between the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation and the United Steel Workers union. The intent of the partnership is to expand what they call “union coops” around the country. This leverages successful worker ownership strategies like Employee Shared Ownership Plans (ESOP) to transfer full ownership of companies to workers through worker cooperative structures, while having a union committee that ensures safe working conditions and builds the national power of worker self-determination on a grander scale. This partnership has been around since late October 2009 and has recently started to help launch start-up worker cooperative development in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

There are other suggestions, many related to using financial instruments, that may be of interest to some here. I'm afraid I'm too - old, tired, whatever - to learn enough to evaluate them. I can't even follow the Cypress story line.

I know that my hero Noam Chomsky has reservations about Mondragon, which I'm not smart enough to evaluate either. I feel very sure though that Professor Chomsky would not be one to claim he's 100% right 100% of the time - that would surely be impossible - even for a polymath - for someone who covers the ground he does. I do know he's the best we have. However, Mondragon sounds pretty good compared to what we have here in the good ol' United Corporate States of America.

Published on Saturday, March 23, 2013 by The Guardian/UK
How Noam Chomsky Is Discussed
The more one dissents from political orthodoxies, the more the attacks focus on personality, style and character
by Glenn Greenwald